She Lays Down [h.s.]

Eighteen

Author's Note: I'm not quite sure how I feel about this chapter...

The sun is shining bright and the waves are caressing the shore gently. Mary's setting up the umbrella and Ember is unfolding the chairs. Harry's back at the car and grabbing the cooler because they couldn't carry it on the way up and Ember is too little to carry it herself.

"Mom?"

Mary smiles as she dabs a white dot of sunscreen on Ember's nose, "Yes?"

Ember laughs for a moment before she asks the question that's been on her mind for a while now. "Is Harry going to stay?"

Mary's not really thinking about it as she helps Ember put her sunscreen on her arms, "Of course he is, sweetie. He's the one that invited us to come with him today, silly."

Ember frowns a little because she's trying to ask if he's going to stay in their lives for good and she doesn't really know how to word it. "No, is he going to stay with us for good?"

Mary stops rubbing in the lotion and smiles softly, "I can't say anything for sure because I don't know that yet, but he's given me no reason to think that he won't. And I really like him, sweetie, I don't plan on letting him get away easily."

Ember's silent for a moment and Mary's not really sure what she's thinking because her mind is the one thing that she can't read. "Do you like him? I know that I never asked you, but I want to make sure that you like him because there is the possibility that he might stay. If you don't like him, please tell me because I don't ever want to make you uncomfortable."

She looks at her mother for a long moment before she shakes her head. Ember loves Harry, she's just afraid that he'll leave like her father did and she doesn't want him to leave. "No! I like him, I just don't want him to leave..."

Mary smiles at her daughter because she's positive that things will be different this time. She can't say that she's one hundred percent positive that he won't turn out like Alec, but she's positive that he loves her little girl and that it will take a lot to get him to go away. Hell, the man waited patiently for her for months even though he knew that it might not work out the way that he wanted it to in the end.

"He won't do that to you. He loves you and I won't let him."

She winks and Ember laughs, "Promise?"

Mary sticks out her pinky, her smile growing by the second, "Promise."

Harry takes the moment to wrap his arms around Mary and scare the crap out of her. Ember's seen him walking up for a good minute or two and she's in on it because Harry's fun and it's funny to see her mom freak out every once in a while.

"What is it that we're promising?"

Mary nearly screams and she jumps about an inch or so into the air. Harry and Ember laugh loudly as Mary catches her breath and lightly scolds Harry for nearly giving her a heart attack.

"I don't think that you deserve to know now that you've taken it upon yourself to scare me half to death."

Harry falsely pouts and kisses her cheek, "Sorry, love."

He looks around for a moment and smiles, "I see you two ladies have gotten everything all set up, what's that leave for me?"

Mary playfully rolls her eyes and Ember laughs as she answers, "Sunscreen, silly!"

She finishes up rubbing the white lotion in on her arms while her mother covers her back, shoulders, and the backs of her legs. She let Ember put on her own sunscreen last year because she begged and begged, but at the end of the day she had random patches of sunburn all over. Needless to say, she's happy to accept her mother's help.